She's a dancer after all!

So Miss Emma's dance recital was this past Friday night. She was excited all day Friday and talking about it. I just had a feeling that she was definitely going to dance this time. She did!! She looked so cute and so grown up up there on the stage. I got so caught up I totally forgot to video. Here is a video of a small part of the dance. This just happens to be the the part where she always got a little "bored" with the dance during class. It is cute to watch the little girl, Reagan, next to her help her. I love this! I wish I'd gotten the whole thing on video. It was just adorable.



It was wonderful to watch her dance her little heart out of stage. I was so proud of her. Yaya, Grandpa, Granny (Papa had to work), Aunt Jen, Sydney, Dawn, Shelby, and Kaydee came to see her dance.

Pneumonia

Pneumonia. That's a scary word, right? Well last Wednesday Andy came home early from work and said he was feeling really sick... mostly just weak and tired. He didn't look good at all... poor guy. I could tell he was really sick. I left because I had to take Miss Em to her dance class for pictures. When I got back Andy was still laying in bed and we had a soccer game that started in about 30 minutes. I tried to tell him that Audra and I could manage and coach the game, but he decided to come and coach. He was leaning on the goals and you could tell he just didn't feel well. He came home and went right to bed. He went to work the next day, but only lasted about half the day. He rested all afternoon and seemed to feel much better, so we went to Family Fun night at Luke's school and then to Terry's house for Thursday night dinner. We hadn't been at Terry's very long when Andy said he needed to lay down, so we went home. The next morning after much prodding I convinced Andy to go to the dr. He did and it was pneumonia. Scary. Where and how did Andy get pneumonia?!?!

He rested all day. Emma loved having Daddy home from work and she kept him quite entertained. Here are some pictures.

Here they are checking their email together. . .


Emma dressing her daddy up. . .


Miss Emma putting on a hula hoop show. . .




So, Andy is starting to feel much better after 4 days of nothing but rest. I am so thankful for Audra who took the kids all day Saturday so Andy could rest and I could get the house all cleaned and ready for the open house. So great to have wonderful family help us out! He went back to work today and I hope it wasn't too soon, because we have a super busy next two weeks. I will have to force him to rest as soon as he gets home. He's a hard guy to keep down though. Love him.

Spender is starting to Save!

So, let's face it. I've never been known as someone who is good at "saving" money or using coupons or the like. I can be in a store and get so caught up in how much I love something that I totally forget that I have a coupon and then I am too embarrassed to go back and try to redeem it. That's just me... I don't want anyone to get upset with me.

This past Sunday when trying to get Miss Emma dressed for church I realized all the size 3T and 4T dresses she has from last summer that fit her just last Sunday no longer fit her. They were way too short. It was time to put those away and get some new ones. Because Andy and I are looking at having two mortgages starting in July (scary, right?), I haven't been doing ANY clothes shopping for over 2 months!! If you know me well you know what an accomplishment this is. But, Emma HAS to have some new church dresses and a dress for Granny and Papa's party, so...

I knew Gymboree was having Circle of Friends, which is 30% off everything and a lot of stuff was already on sale which would make it a really good deal. I am kind of over Gymboree and don't really like a whole lot there for Emma anymore... it is a little to "matchy" if that makes sense, but I also know when they have a sale in combination with Circle of Friends... you can't beat the deals. I searched and found a couple of dresses, a skirt and shirt, a tank, shorts, tee shirt, another pair of shorts and two hair bows. All this would have cost $158.69. After sales, coupons, and Gymboree rewards (which I had to search through my email to find for a $5 off savings) the total came to $50.22. I found this quite exciting. I saved 68% on clothes!! I need to do this more often, but ONLY when my kids NEED clothes.

This post was inspired by Mary Johnson!! :)

New house update!

Looks like our closing is May 23rd... not as soon as we'd hoped, but I guess when working with the government things never move as quickly as they should. I am so excited to get it the house and make it our home.

Another thing... someone found out that it was us who got the house and they offered to pay us $10,000 over what we got it for if we would give it to them. I thought that was interesting, but we said no... too many things telling us that God wants us in this new place.

Looking forward to closing, but we have a lot going on between now and then to keep us busy. Most importantly is the open house for our current home this Sunday. I need to go clean up right now and get ready for that. I keep praying someone will buy it then!! Hope you will say a prayer as well!

Never Grow Up!

Today was such a crazy busy day. Emma had her dance pictures for her spring recital. She looked so beautiful and so grown up. I can't handle it. She's my baby and she's growing up too fast. Here's her picture before we left.



Her recital is a week from Friday. I really do think she will dance this time. I've been in her class a few times this semester and she's done the dance every time. so cute.

After Emma's dance class and pictures Luke had a soccer game. He is starting to get pretty good and he really enjoys soccer. He especially loves having Andy and Audra coach him. After soccer tonight we got home and Luke wanted to ride his bike that Aunt Audra and Uncle Matt got for him last year. He's been riding his bike without training wheels for over a year now, but he's been too scared to ride the bike they got for him because it is so big and high off the ground. Tonight he got on it and took off down the street. He was so excited that he had to go in and call Aunt Audra and tell her. It was cute. But he looked so big on that giant bike.

My kids are growing up too fast. Everyone tells you it will happen, but I didn't think it would happen this quickly. I wish they could stay this size forever. They are my heart. Love those two. :)

Insomnia

So here it is almost 1AM and I can't sleep... my mind is absolutely racing with all the things I have do over the next month.

1. Sell this house
2. Move into the new house
3. Pack up this house
4. Finish the video for Andy's parents party
5. Make the playlist for Andy's parents party
6. Plan Luke's 6th birthday party
7. #6 reminds me that I still have 3 thank you notes I haven't written for Emma's bday... I should do that now instead of this.
8. when is our house closing going to be?
9. Get ready for the open house Sunday-- is our house going to sell? two mortgages is scary!
10. and a special prayer

My mind is racing back and forth between all these things... I need to just go to sleep, but I can't. sigh. Not sure if getting up and blogging is helping either. :)

Mother's Day

Yesterday was Mother's Day and we spent it at the park in Wilmore. Andy's family was there, my family was there and Gina's parents. We had a large potluck lunch and we played at the park. We had the place to ourselves for most of the afternoon. It was just perfect. Audra even took the kids on bike rides all around the track. Such a fun day with such much wonderful family.








I am so thankful that God blessed me with the opportunity to be a mother to two such wonderful kids. Really I love being a mom and there is nothing I treasure more in this world than each minute I am given with my kiddos... really they are such a gift to me!

Nothing will rock your World more than becoming a Mother, but there is also nothing more fullfilling. I love it!

Just wanted to share this video by Annie Renfro about the "Mutha Hood" I relate... 155%!

Closing!

We got a call this morning and there is a possibility we will be closing on the new house next week!! Yay! I can't wait. I am ready to get in there and make it our home. So exciting. As soon as I have the keys I will post part 2 of the blog I started here.

We still have to sell our house. We've had a few lookers and several calls about it. We are eager to sell.

Exciting times ahead for the Johns family!